Wednesday, December 26, 2012

I finally realized that if I ever wanted a thick hard-backed book filled with graph paper for a reasonable cost I'd have to make it myself, so I just did. I've called it (oh so creatively) The Big Book of Graph Paper and I've just put it up for sale at Lulu for only $25. Couple that with the 26DEC coupon going on right now for 40% off and you've got a pretty good bargain. It's 181 pages of .25 inch graph paper with 11 extra pages of isometric graph paper for 3D doodlings.

I kept the cover very neutral as I expect people to want to use this for their gaming, but I think it's distictive enough to allow the eye to quickly find it on a bookshelf or such. Hopefully, the graph paper spine will stick out on the shelf.

Friday, December 21, 2012

Thought I should drop a note letting everyone know that I've finished lay-out for AA#29 and sent out the art order. Today feels like a lazy day (snowing) so I may just goof off for a change for the rest of the day.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

So I've got each of the areas in underground player's map below fleshed out (In The Pod-Caverns of the Sinister Shroom, Down the Shadowvein, and The Mouth of the Shadowvein), but on the GM's map there are about two times as many potential places to flesh out as shown below. Part of me thinks I should slowly work on each area and then release an underground wilderness-crawl. I think that given the relative low-level of the adventures (2-6) it could turn into a good resource for GMs to raid for their own campaigns.

This long, dry history chronicles the rise of the Banthams from mean beginnings to the ascendancy of King Arnold IV. Written by the official house historian, the work seriously whitewashes the history of the family. Although most of the major issues are discussed (such as the civil war) they are presented in the most pleasing manner possible and are simply not to be trusted as an authoritative account.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Well, we're 6 days into our big sale and I have to say that I didn't stock as well as I should have. We've ran out of Advanced Adventures Compendium One, AA #20, and AA#15. We're also out of the 1-on-1 Compendium (but I'd expected that - I need to do a complete reprint of that one).

Thankfully, such errors on my part are at least not terrible errors. From a business perspective, it's always nice to underestimate the response to a sale as opposed to an overestimation.

That said, I know there are a lot of people who wanted in on the AA Compendiums, so to help make up for my mistake, I've changed the LULU price of Advanced Adventures Compendium One to something similar to the sales price for our big sale after you use the discount coupon FELICITAS to get 20% off. This way, those who you who really wanted it will be able to get it.

My apologies for running out of stock and thanks to everyone who's made a purchase and my apologies for those who wanted something we're now out of.

Additionally, all the remaining Sorcery & Super Science printed books are on sale for 75% off! I don't have any of the core-rulebooks anymore, but at $3 a pop, the supplements are quite the deal for those interested in the game. For those who like general post-apoc craziness, the ZZZ Quick Guide to North America is pretty-much systemless and could easily serve as a good setting for any post-apoc game, IMO.

Finally, the first book we ever published (back in March, 2003) A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe is also on sale for 50% off. It's the second edition of the text and, in my not so humble opinion, a great resource for running a pseudo or quasi-medieval campaign.

So that's quite a long commerical-oriented post. I've been publishing now for almost 10 years, and my birthday is in December, so help me fund some goodies for myself.... :-)

Merry Ho-Ho and have a happy version of whatever you choose to celebrate!

EDIT: ON SHIPPING: Shipping may become expensive for non-US customers who order many products as our system doesn't calculate shipping very well on such orders, unfortunately. If shipping comes out more than a few bucks different than the actual shipping price, I'll refund the excess to you. I'll treat you right.

Monday, November 19, 2012

Just sent off the art order for Advanced Adventure #28: Redtooth Ridge to John and Daisy Bingham. I'm glad that one's done and now, on to the next AA in the queue - AA#29: The Doom of Red Rauthim. After that, AA#30: To End the Rising,and then to AA#31: Aerie of the Cloud Giant Strategos. I'm writing #31 and I don't even have a manuscript for it - but I do have some maps and a general plan of attack. It's supposed to be a continuation to Against the Giants. Gonna be fun!

Busy busy....

(Ever notice how there's just a ridiculous number of vowels in "queue?" I mean, you've got two "ue" in a row for no good reason... Might as well go with queueueueueueue... now I'm thinking about the lady in Kung Pow)

Sign Language is a dense book, packed with over 800 different signs used by the many different tribes on the Longan Plains. This sign language acts as a universal language for over 15 distinct tribes that share little with each other in terms of native tongue. Winfalas also gives a brief account of how he was captured, enslaved, freed, and finally requested to lead the Hinawak tribe.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

I've gotten in some art from John & Daisy Bingham for AA#26: The Witch Mounds and that's pretty much done, AA#27: Bitterroot Briar's art order is out, and now I'm doing a second round of editing AA#28: Redtooth Ridge. As I'm author of Redtooth Ridge, I find a second round of editing helps significantly - mostly by cutting repetitive word count - I tend to be a bit wordy.

A work found in every library concerning the plant world, The Iraline Herbal is an ancient work filled with the foundation of today’s modern herbalistic beliefs. The main drawback of the work is the lack of color illustrations, and such as lead to the preference of other herbals over this one.

Featherbow’s analysis of the fecund races (human, orc, goblin, hobgoblin, and kobold) is considered the “go to” work for this type of information. Compiled throughout her long life, the work provides birth/death rates for the various races based upon geographic locations and climate variance. Some have challenged the veracity of the work regarding its analysis of the non-humans, but as of yet there are no other more convincing arguments available.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Some people think that there are several statistics in the 1st Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual that are not needed to play the game.

To that, I respond, "Yes, they are not needed to play the game, but they serve the purpose of building the world in which the game is played." These are the Worldbuilding Monster Statistics. Statistics such as Frequency, No. Appearing, % in Lair, Treasure Type, Intelligence, Alignment, and Size have primarily a world-building goal. Sure, there are bits and bobs of these statistics that can be interpreted as "game related," but they're primarily there to inform the GM about the world in which the game is played. Changing these statistics changes the game very little, but can drastically change the game world.

And a very interesting thing about rpgs is that, over time, the world around the game eventually *becomes* the game, because rpgs are about "what if" and how we react to different "what ifs."

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Friday, October 26, 2012

Detect Magic
For the ink required to scribe an arcane detect magic scroll

1 oz. of giant squid sepia
1 pulped mugwort
A dram of imp’s blood

In a crystal container, mix the mugwort with the sepia. Seal container with beeswax and let sit for 18 days. Open at sunrise and remove liquid and mix with imp’s blood. Seal container again and let sit for 18 more days before decanting into a glass vial at sunset. Makes enough ink for 2 scrolls. Any special quill is suitable.

A work detailing the 1,000 most common hieroglyphs of ancient Kemet, Hieroglyphics is an invaluable resource for those investigating the ruins of that lost time. Using this book, most hieroglyphics can eventually be decoded, although it will take significant time.

Make a mobile, hanging each glowworm equally apart from each other off a silk thread. Mix the two inks. Dip the worms into the mixed ink and shake the mobile, causing the ink to drip down upon a large silver platter. Repeat until all the ink has been used up and rests upon the silver platter. Decant into a glass vial. Makes enough ink for 2 scrolls. Any special quill is suitable.

Covering the entire breadth of troll-dom, Trolls was written by Kilgar Krum, a human polymorphed into a troll and only cured after a score of years. Krum writes of his experiences with the trolls, their biology, culture, and beliefs. Reading this work give a potential troll hunter a 1in6 better chance of surprising trolls and adds a +1 to hit and a +1 to damage in combat.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Heya all, I'm looking for more manuscripts for our Pathfinder Compatible 1 on 1 Adventures - Adventures designed for one player and one GM. I'm looking for around 12k words. Please e-mail me at josephbrowning@gmail.com if you have ideas or manuscripts. The line has been defunct for a while and I need to get it going again, so please help me out.

During high noon, coat the parrots tongue with the powdered human tooth. Throw upon the ground and tread upon with a hard-soled leather boot. Throw the salt over the left shoulder and the soot over the right. After this, the ink (if in a silver container) is ready. If in a non-silver container, the ink will not be suitable. Makes enough ink for 2 scrolls. Any special quill is suitable.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Back to working on Classified now that the next Advanced Adventure is
just waiting on art. I'll probably work on Classified for a few days and
then turn my attention to AA #27. I need to get a backlog of
ready-to-print Advanced Adventures ready if I want to release one every
month for the first half of next year. I'm still looking for manuscripts, btw.

I've got a list of about 140 or so weapons and vehicles to work my way through on Classified before I start with the more exotic spy/espionage equipment. I'm going to do a brief description of each item to provide some framework for the GM who may not be familiar with the item. The descriptions will be brief, as I expect a GM to look to the net to find anything other than a general overview. Which, IMO, is one of the cool things about the internet - it frees up the need for framework-issues like this.

Just finished the lay out of The Witch Mounds and sent the art direction off to John and Daisy Bingham. This OSRIC and First Edition compatible adventure is for 6-10 PCs of levels 3-6 and should come out in January of next year (perhaps earlier in PDF).

Near the southern verge of the Yoros Forest, rests a series of grass-covered barrows arranged in a horseshoe shape. Ten smaller barrows and one known as the Great Mound sit facing inward at each other. The site is known as the Witch Mounds by the locals, and it is shunned, for evil lurks within, a place of old Maerling evil best left alone.

Will you brave the Haug-eldr, the greenish flame seen in the depths of night around The Witch Mounds to explore the dangers and riches that surely lie below?

The Pathfinder conversion of Sorcery & Super Science! should pick up here shortly once we get in a signed contract from a freelancer. I'm a bit overwhelmed right now (I tend to jump from thing to thing) and I think hiring-out should help make sure this one sees the light of day. It's a big project and I've got a lot of irons in the fire. Just wanted to let everyone know that it's still an ongoing work - one which should hopefully speed up.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

David over at the Tower of the Archmage has an interesting post about the relative emptiness of hallways in comparison with rooms in the traditional dungeon. This observation has led me to speculate on how to design an Inverse Dungeon, wherein almost all the encounters take place in the hallways and the rooms are the transit areas from one encounter to another.

I wonder how long it would take a party to key on this fundamental alteration and change their behaviors to adapt?

On the Generation of Clouds provides a solid physical framework about the different land types and how they collect the moisture in the air, creating cloudy rainy areas as well as deserts. Additionally, Thridbit discusses the generation of magical clouds such as those upon which cloud giants dwell.

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Thought I should let people know that I've started laying out AA26: The Witch Mounds by Keith Sloan. I finished the maps earlier today and hope to be done with the layout in a few days. Then, to commission art and print. Looking for a January release.

Saturday, October 13, 2012

I want to let everyone know that I got hacked on Facebook sometime last night and apparently sent out private messages concerning iphones. My apologies to anyone I sent a message too. I've changed my password to something *very* strong and it should hopefully not happen again.

Good news on the Goremont Grim front: I've decided that it will be published, but probably not for at least two to three years. I'm going to do something special for this megadungeon - hopefully something that will be "socks-knock-off" worthy. Yeah, an update without much substance, but I'm just happy to know that it's going to be published.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Pardon the title, but it seem as if empty rooms are the subject du week in the OSR-verse after Joethelawyer's post about his recent experience with Dwimmermount (link to Grognardia's Dwimmermount tag). There's been a lot of talk about the importance of empty rooms in the megadungeon, mostly around two main ideas - space (for exploration, party camping ability, etc.) and weirdness (or fuck-a-diddle's as Stephan Poag termed it). Both, IMO, are spot on observations about the construction of the Megadungeon environment and play-style and I do think they are both necessary.

However, I think the responses I've seen from the OSR community as a whole seem to be focused more on explaining why Joethelawyer had a bad experience based on the assumption that he isn't aware of the empty room megadungeon framework. Which is fine-and-dandy, but perhaps there's a different reason. As a designer, I see something different in his post than a springboard to explain megadungeon design - I see a player's expectations not being matched to the game environment - and I'm not going to try and provide information regarding the different styles, I'm going to try and provide some help on making the different styles mesh together better.

His posts starts off with something that should key the reader in very quick that the Megadungeon environment is probably not a good fit.

Here's the thing--as a player, I want my character to kick some ass, be
awesome, and have a tale to tell back at the tavern so he can get some
action with the serving wenches. You know, Conan, or Fafhrd and the
Grey Mouser style. That to me is the motivation to play an adventurer.

This, to me, is not the megadungeon style, and certainly not the style of Dwimmermount as I've come to understand it from Grognardia's posts over the years.To me, the root of the issue is in different play style preferences.

Assuming that I've said something of interest, what, as a designer, can be done to try and make Joethelawyer's apparent preference mesh better with a megadungeon environment like Dwimmermount? Below are a few thoughts/responses pulled from comments on his post.

Rooms with stuff that on its surface looks interesting, but in the end
is just a needless distraction that doesn't lead to anything cool.
Ever. Not even once in a while. There was one room with ghosts around a
table. They gave no clues to greater mysteries, they provided no combat opportunities, they were nothing but a waste of time

1. Provide a quicker way for players to place fuck-a-diddles into the greater context of the megadungeon. Provide these contexts quicker the closer the room is to the entrance to the dungeon to grab the attention of new players. Leave the majority of context-less fuck-a-diddles for deeper areas, which when encountered are based upon the idea that the player is already "hooked" into the environment and will find contextless aspects less frustrating.

There was a room with half dozen balloons. No one is stupid enough to
go into such a room, so we shot them from outside. One exploded and
caused the others to explode. Would have done damage had we been in
there. Again, who would be stupid enough to be in there?

2. Provide the opportunity for players to utilize traps against enemies. I don't know if this room could be used in such a manner, but I think the room would be improved were players able to use the trap against lured enemies in some manner.

There was another room where nothing aged. Why? Who placed it there?
Why place such a massive investment of magical energy (time stop being a
9th level spell) into a room with not a goddamned thing in it worth
anything? At the end I just wanted to smash everything in the room out
of frustration.

3. Another example of contextlessness providing frustration. Perhaps the Dwimmermount notes provide an explanation of the room to the GM, and if it does, providing a way for the *players* to find out the reason would be beneficial. If possible, finding a way for the players to find out that provides a material reward of some sort (treasure, intel) would be even better.

Then, random rooms with stuff in it for no reason. In one room, in a
corner, is a bag with 1000 gp. Why? Empty otherwise, except for the
orcs we drove off. Orcs, with 1000 gp. Exactly 1000 gp. It's a very
exact dungeon. Another room had debris in it. After killing the rats
in it, we spent 30 minutes looking thru rat shit and found 2000 cp.
Why? Oh, and there was also some other crap like a pin and a comb worth
some money.

4. This touches on one of my design preferences: generally avoid round numbers. Round numbers do not feel organic and the organic feeling is very important during play, IMO. This should be an easy fix and one that, IMO, would benefit even players who prefer the Megadungeon style of play already.

And to finish up this already long post....

Where's the grand tale of adventure in that? Would it make a good
movie? Would you pay eight bucks to see it on the big screen? Did we
do anything awesome? Did we encounter weird ass shit and survive by the
skin of our teeth, using our wits and courage to overcome the
obstacles? Was there at any point an opportunity or a need to be
creative with the stuff in the environment to further our ends? Was the
environment itself creative and mysterious, leaving us a with a sense
of awe and wonder? Did it make us want to explore further? Did it open
up further layers of a mystery?

This highlights where the different play desires don't mesh. Joethelawyer is thinking of the game in terms of a movie. IMO, the Megadungeon environment is not a movie - (at most) megadungeons are thematic tapestries in which various areas can explore different themes and these themes are usually not explored until deeper in the dungeon. Movies are narrative pieces with a purpose - Megadungeons don't have a purpose - they have many different purposes.

Would my suggestions have improved Joethelawyer's experience with Dwimmermount? Perhaps, but perhaps not. Regardless, I think they're useful things to think about when designing for an audience that is not your personal table.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

I'm going to be stepping away from Classified for a bit to focus on Advanced Adventures. I have some editing and a lot of mapping to do and I need to get the adventures into publishable format. With this in mind, now its a great time to send me manuscripts if you have them. I'm looking for 8k-12k manuscripts using only OGL material (ie anything in OSRIC is ok). I prefer site-based adventures and have no real level preferences, although levels 1-7 do seem to sell better than 8+ level.

I pay $0.01 a word and an author's copy for all rights, so if your work is your baby, don't send it my way. I want to own everything we publish and completely understand those who also want to own their own works as well. EDIT: I should also mention that I pay *upon acceptance* - meaning that the author is paid when I accept the manuscript rather than when the work is published, as it typical in the industry.

After I get some Advanced Adventure work out of the way I'll return to Classified and probably switch back and forth between them until all the AA are ready to go out the door. And because I can... here's a cool illustration by John Bingham. :-)

Monday, October 8, 2012

Finished up the list and now onto brief descriptions. It's taken me a little over two weeks to make the weapons and vehicles lists. I'd hoped to do them a bit faster, but there's a lot of information to digest and translate into game terms.

To compare Classified to the original game, Classified has 177 weapons and vehicles while the original rules had only 34. I consider the long lists big time-savers for GMs and the time I've spent on them well worth it.

Stumbled upon some very cool images at Atlas Obscura that I think would fit right into most fantasy games. Something like the Gilroy Gardens should make an appearance somewhere. I think geometric shapes, and especially angles that do not occur naturally very often (as in the second picture) would fit into an Elvish art garden.

Friday, October 5, 2012

Well, that took a good chunk of time. It's funny how you can find out X bit of information here, Y bit over here and Z bit over there. Oh, and A place has different information than B does about X bit. :-)

Anyway... here's the land vehicle list for Classified. I've yet to choose the watercraft and aircraft - that's next on the list.

1 oz. of giant squid sepia1 dram of powdered obsidian1 oz. of blood from a fire snake1 oz. of rainwater

In a stone container, mix all ingredients. Bring ingredients to a boil and reduce until only a thick tarry substance remains. Add rainwater and stir widdershins until integrated. Makes enough ink for 2 scrolls. Any special quill is suitable.

The Forge of the Sanctuary gives explicit directions on how to create, fuel, and use a dwarven cold forge. It is unknown what angered Alebelly so much that he would divulge one of his race’s greatest secrets, but a reader with knowledge of smelting and ironwork, and knowledge of dweomercraft can create a cold forge following Alebelly’s directions. The forge costs 10,000 gp to manufacture, requires over a year’s time, and consumes 1,000 gp of gems per month. When tended by 4 trained cold-forge smiths, the forge may produce a +1 weapon every month, a +2 weapon in 4 months, or a +3 weapon in a year. If also tended by a spell caster of at least 12th level (or a dwarven cleric of 8th-level, the forge can produce a +4 weapon after two years of effort.

The Forge of the Sanctuary is a book most hated by dwarves, and the possession of such can lead to bloodshed or even war. Conversely, a gift of the work to a dwarven clan is sure to bring rejoicing and even friendship from the normally insular people.

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Here's a pic of the weapons I've included in Classified. This has taken 3 days of effort - unsurprisingly, it's not easy to find out information on some of these (price in particular) and as I'm trying to price as if a non-governmental organization was purchasing, things are even more complicated. Anyway, I'm pretty pleased with the results and now I have to move onward to vehicles.

Friday, September 28, 2012

Just bought The Best of Bond...James Bond cd and am greatly enjoying it. 23 songs from Bond movies up to the new Casino Royal. I'm finding it very inspirational. Goldfinger is best, IMO, but Thunderball, A View to a Kill, and Goldeneye are up there near the top.

Also, if you're at Netflix streaming user, it looks like many of the Bond movies are returning to streaming come the beginning of next month.

The Black Book is desired by many with foulness in their hearts. Those of at least an Intelligence of 14 who spend two months reading and studying the tome learn to animate dead as if they were a 20th-level cleric with the animate dead spell. The animation of these dead requires a ritual performable only during the depths of a moonless night. Each animation deals 1 point of cumulative hit point damage curable only through an atonement spell. Those killed by The Black Book rise as wights.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

In a metal container, mix all ingredients. Bring to a quick boil and decant into a glass vial. Let fire cool and turn cold, place glass vial in center of fire and let sit for 3 days. Makes enough ink for 2 scrolls. Any special quill is suitable.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

After several hours of consideration, I've decided on the following 10 pistols to include in the Classified core book (always leaving in the possibility of a weapon/gadget book/series).

Beretta .25

Beretta M9

Browning Hi-Power

FN Five-seven

Glock 19

Heckler & Koch P30

SIG Sauer P229

Smith & Wesson Model 500

Walther PPK

Walther PPS

I think this group nicely covers much of what would be desired in a modern Classified game with players who aren't that concerned with having multiple specific options regarding weaponry. The PPK is out-of-date with many of the other weapons on the list, but I believe I *have* to include it - it's too iconic not to include, IMO.

Just a quick update, I've finished chapters 1-9 of Classified and am about to start on the equipment. I expect to slow down here as I'm going to be updating the equipment list to include new guns, cars, boats, and planes (as well as including some of those in the original game). I suspect this section will take a while as there's more decision-making going on.

After that I've got the GM help sections including NPC information like sample NPCs and other such. Then a character sheet needs to be made and a few locations frameworked. Finally, I'll need to put the Mission: The Bucharest Libretto together.

All that's going to take a while and I fear my speedy progress so far won't be repeated in the next phase of work.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

I spend much of my time being creative in some form or fashion, either work related or otherwise. I've noticed that I tend to do my best work when I work intensively for about 30 minutes and then take a 5 to 10 minute break. It feels sort of like flushing the stress tubes, as when I concentrate I tend to tighten my neck and shoulders and upper body. These little breaks help me relax a bit before heading back to work.

Finding my natural working rhythm has been a nice side-effect of being self-employed. Were I to return to "real" employment, I know I'd find the two-hour-then-break of my past jobs difficult to adapt to. I think I'd end up phoning-it-in more than I should because of the disparities between my natural rhythm and the work-place rhythm.

The companion work to Bushes & Shrubs of the High Mountains, Low Mountains focuses upon the changing plant diversity found in the transition zone of the low mountains. Like its companion, it is a work of little depth, and instead explores the wide and varied breadth of foliage. It is also rightly considered a standard in its area.

In a bronze bowl, mix all ingredients and store within an animal bladder. Bury the bladder in the ground in a wooden contain and let sit for 1 year. Makes enough ink for 4 scrolls. Any special quill is suitable.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Just put the finishing touches on page 37 of Classified and the Combat section is now done! Next up is Chases. Seven of the Twelve chapters are finished and I'd estimate I'm about 40% done in terms of word count. I'm starting to think about cover design for Classified and I have two ideas I need to play around with to see how they look.

Thanks to a mention by reader Spawn of Endra, I've been listening a lot to SomaFM. The three channels I've been listening to most are Secret Agent, Underground 80's, and Illinois Street Lounge. There are other channels I'm sure I'll take a listen to in time, but that's where I've been hanging out most recently. Enjoying hearing music I've never heard before (of haven't heard in a very long time).

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Let's have another ink recipe from the Formula Folio. For new readers, this series provides the ink recipe needed to inscribe scrolls with the indicated spell. If you like, just click on the Formula Folio link to the right and there's about two dozen more.

Shillelagh
For the ink required to scribe a druidical shillelagh scroll

In the mortar and pestle, grind the shamrock leaves down into a paste. Mix ink and juice in an oaken container and seal with beeswax. Smear shamrock paste over container and place in a hole in an oak tree. Let rest for 7 days. Makes enough ink for 2 scrolls. Use a quill made from a rooster.

This work describes the multitude of different musical notations used by over thirty different human cultures and 4 demi-human cultures. By some unknown artifice, the tome is enchanted to sound the musical notes within, perfectly translating the written to the aural.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Just purchased the album this song comes from, Tell No One. I'm really enjoying the album. Sarah Tracey has a great voice and writes good songs. I've a few more albums in my wishlist that are spy-oriented. Always a good idea to have music to help you create. If you like this song, you'll like the rest of the album, IMO, so go pick it up.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

IMO, one of the genius moves in the James Bond game is that actions
are declared by the slowest character, than the next slowest, and
finally the fastest declares last. This way the fastest has best
information when deciding what to do

Couple that with the fact that the fastest goes first once the round begins... and that's one of the reasons why Classified is going to exist. :-)

Great
design, IMO. Especially when the players get an idea of just how
quickly combat can go against them... Be quick or be dead!

So, I've decided to try and be more active on Twitter. I'm Joseph_Browning there. I'm still not terribly comfortable with the art of short messaging and need to work out how best to get Twitter to work for me because I don't seem to have much going through my feed, but I know there's a lot going on. So if anyone would like to follow me, I'd appreciate it.

I think I should use Twitter to do brief little updates like "Just finished X section of Y game." or "Alright, poop time" Ok, not the latter. :-) I'll have to figure it out.

After the Blade discusses the various theological and mythological afterlife beliefs of the various giants. Written in the stone giant language (and in rather poor grammar at that), it is an exceedingly rare work offering unique insights into the thoughts and beliefs of giantkind.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

One thing that I'm doing as I go through Classified is making changes where I think appropriate to update the system to better reflect the modern period as opposed to the 1980's. For example, Photography is no longer an Ability as the digital revolution has, IMO, enabled everyone to be a passable-enough photographer without the need of specialized training.

In its place, I'm allowing the player to choose one Skill from a subset list of Skills and turn that into an Ability of choice. This provides a bit of customization to the player and can help create a good group dynamic where individual characters start with a rather high chance of success on one particularly chosen Skill.

Additionally, I'm adding Language as a Skill as I think the source material focuses very heavy on one particular style of spy/covert action movies wherein the protagonist never had language issues because of narrative construction. I think a more broad-based game should include languages (as does the real world, after all) and a beginning character starts with his or her Native Language as an Ability. Of course, the character could pick Language as their Skill choice for their pickable Ability and start the game with true fluency in two languages.

Both of these changes, IMO, improve the game and I hope that fans of the system are not disappointed by the changes. I suspect I'll have to make a few other such changes as I go along, but I'll never do anything that renders Classified incompatible with its source material and supplements. Time has just moved on.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

I'm about halfway through the Skills chapter. I'm concurrently laying-out the book as I work and I have about 19 pages done. It's coming together nicely and I'll need to start looking for artists in a few weeks, I suppose.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Classified. It is a retro-clone of the James Bond 007 game. I've made a few changes (and will have to update much of the equipment to the modern-day), but it'll be eminently compatible with the old adventures and supplements. I've loved this game ever since it came out. It runs like a finely-tuned machine during play and does a great job of genre emulation. If you have not played it, it really plays like a dream.

I'm opening up the system a bit to include all sorts of covert operations, not just the super-spy genre. I think there are a lot of different things that the system works well for, and I'll be trying to make sure that it covers different takes on the subject.

I've been working quickly on this and hopefully it will see the light of day soon. I'm on the Skills section and only expect to slow down when I come to the equipment section. That could be a major slowdown area, so we'll have to see.

I've also started plotting out the first adventure, tentatively titled The Bucharest Libretto.

In 1787, right before the beginning of the Russo-Turkish War of 1787-1892, Antonio Salieri visited Bucharest. During his visit he composed the opera L'esaltato (The Exalted) celebrating the proud spirit of the Russians and Austrians. For the only time in his career, Salieri also wrote the libretto while residing in his hotel in Bucharest. Returning to Vienna a few months later, he put the finishing touches on L'esaltato and it was performed to moderate success. During WWII, the original hand-written copy of the libretto was “liberated” by the Soviets to Bucharest and it has remained there ever since.

The original copy of the Libretto has recently been stolen and the Austrians are very interested in returning the work of Salieri to the city that was his home, Vienna.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

So what I've been working on the past few days is a new retro-clone. I'm not prepared yet to say of what, but I've been blazing away and have 12 pages done and laid out. I've never done a retro-clone before and I'm having a lot of fun. I'm working crazy-fast and I may even have the first draft done by the end of the month.

So wish me luck and hopefully I'll feel comfortable announcing the new clone shortly. It's for a game that hopefully many of us loved and is now out-of-print for more than 20 years with no foreseeable chance of it returning to print.

A beautifully illustrated work following the course of the major rivers of Industhan, Bhadakar’s work is a requirement for any interested in that distant land. Written in Industhani, it is largely incomprehensible for the majority, but its maps are a great treasure.

So, like I mentioned in the last post, I've started working on something new that's consuming all my time right now. Which is not the best decision, actually, since I've got about 5 Advanced Adventures to edit and product, a new game (Worlds Apart) that I should be producing supplements for, an older game (Sorcery & Super Science) that I should be producing another supplement for (The Bean Lords of Bad Axe), and quick-and-dirty game (One Shot) that I should be producing a new adventure for because they're short and fun to write, and a new book in our original series A Magical Society: India.

But what am I doing? Following my muse instead of my brain. I do that a lot unfortunately, because you don't make a lot of money in the game industry and doing what you really want to do is one of the big perks. Were any of the things I was putting off serious money-makers, I'd bite the bullet and get them done first. But seeing as how most things are relatively comparable in terms of income production, might as well do the thing that you're most interested in doing right now.

Eventually I'll tire of the the new thing, and get a bug up my butt for Advanced Adventures and then knock out all 5 ASAP, or start jonesing to work on a few more Worlds Apart Island Gazetteers, or even keep reading and jotting notes for A Magical Society: India. India's the big one. It will probably make the most money out of all of them, but it's also far-and-away the hardest to write. Magical Society books are supposed to kick all sorts of ass, and making that occur takes a lot of effort and actual scholarship rather than just creativity.

The below illustration is from the back cover of The Conqueror Worm. It's a high-level adventure and things aren't looking the best for the intrepid group of adventurers. Perhaps they should have thought twice before entering a giant iceberg castle?

I've decided upon another new project and I'm about 6 pages in or so, but not yet quite ready to say what I'm doing. Hopefully in a month or so I'll be ready to announce, but it's something I've wanted to do for a while and finally decided it needed doing.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

I'm working like a fiend on a new project (up at 4:30 am because I couldn't go back to sleep thinking about it), so I though I'd share the front cover illustration to Advanced Adventures #15: Stonesky Delve. I really like Stonesky Delve and think it one of the best adventures in the AA line. Of course, I'm biased because I wrote it, but I think the verticality of the cave system is something that isn't found in most OSR adventures and really adds a new experience into old-school gaming.

I love Peter's illustration here, especially the use of color to pick up on the shading of the Gamboge Hulk's muscle. I always caption this one, "Sometimes, you wish you would have just stayed on the surface..." or, more humorously, "Mmfl! Where has that hand been!?"

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Thanks to everyone for the surprising response to the free AA PDF offer! I'll be sending out the PDFs today. If you don't get your copy by Thursday, please respond in this thread and let me know that I made a mistake and missed your message. I'll correct any errors as soon as I can.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Okay, so this is just about the coolest thing since sliced bread. ORBIS!

ORBIS allows us to express Roman communication costs in terms of both
time and expense. By simulating movement along the principal routes of
the Roman road network, the main navigable rivers, and hundreds of sea
routes in the Mediterranean, Black Sea and coastal Atlantic, this
interactive model reconstructs the duration and financial cost of travel
in antiquity. Taking account of seasonal variation and
accommodating a wide range of modes and means of transport, ORBIS
reveals the true shape of the Roman world and provides a unique resource
for our understanding of premodern history.

If that doesn't get your History Nerd (tm) blood a'flowing, you've secretly been replaced by a zombie.

So it turns out that I'm one of the lucky bloggers who's check box to insert the like functions from G+, Facebook, and Twitter simply didn't work. After hunting down a fix, I had the enjoyable duty of editing my blog's Template HTML directly, which for an absolute non-programmer is [insert scary music]not a fun thing to do.[/end scary music]

But anyway, the fix apparently worked and all of you guys can like me (and my posts) at the various social medias.

Years of lumberjacking, tracking, and eventual stewardship of Bifar Forest for The White Duke Calary of Willmote was the genesis for Dwinar’s Codes of the Trees. Within this work are all the known codes, symbols, and signs common among forest folk, including many of the fae races. It is a definite must when searching within the trees for a particular location.

Saturday, September 1, 2012

I am stoked! Just finished uploading the 6 PDFs to rpgnow.com. We've got the Core Rules for $12, the free Core Rules sans illustrations, 3 island gazetteers (Awmrie, Deave, Gryce) for $2 each, and Suppliers-a list of pre-generated cargoes to keep the game moving swiftly when the PC decide to engage in a bit of unexpected trade for $3.

Thank to everyone for their patience and I hope you all check out the game! After the "losing the cover" fiasco, I created the below cover to get back to the real roots of the game. It's clear, direct, and I prefer it to the prior versions. I love the excitement I get when putting out something new, after 9 years it's still not gotten old... :-)